


And So Eden Calls To Us

by Krasimer



Series: All Your Tragedies [6]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Credence Barebone Deserves Better, Credence Barebone Gets a Hug, Credence Barebone Heals, Credence Barebone Lives, Credence hides in there, Gen, Good Original Percival Graves, Living in Newt Scamander's Suitcase, M/M, Modesty Barebone heals, Modesty is a witch, Newt is a Dork, Obscurial Credence Barebone, Original Percival Graves Has PTSD, Original Percival Graves Needs a Hug, Original Percival Graves is Bad at Feelings, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Credence Barebone, Protective Newt Scamander, When things are too much, sort of, welcome to the family Graves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 13:12:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8846419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: "You know I meant you too, right?" Newt asked Credence quietly. "You aren't...This isn't going to be a place I want you to regret coming to," Newt held out a hand for Credence to cling to for a second. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Modesty standing in the middle of the garden, her face turned towards the sun and her eyes closed. "This is someplace I would hope you feel safe in, Credence."Safe, came the small voice in the back of his mind that was Credence's words. Here?"I should hope so," Newt chuckled. "This estate belongs to my family, has for centuries. I do not live in their house anymore but my mother was unhappy about me disappearing into the world once I got expelled from school," his smile was back and Credence shifted a little closer. "Go on, you," he urged the smoke cloud towards Modesty. "I think your sister wants some company out there."





	

"Oh, hello," Newt laughed as he pulled out his wand, smiling at the cloud of black smoke billowing against the door. Waving it in a complicated pattern at the door, Newt tucked it away when he heard the lock click. "Credence, did you want to go in first?"

Modesty, hanging about his elbow, giggled into her hands. "Credence," she was smiling when she revealed her face. 

"Oh, he's alright," Newt turned to smile at her too. "Here," he pushed open the door, watching the obscurial float in and hover in the entryway. "This is my home. Further up the estate is my parent's house and we shan't be up that way today. Everyone settles in and my mum notices we're here and I may go see them," he stepped in after waving Modesty in after her brother. "This...This is home."

The room they had walked into was small and somewhat crowded, sketches of animals stacked almost haphazardly on the table and pinned to the walls. Hanging from the ceiling were carefully pieced together skeletons, animals that had died in their old age and Newt patted one fondly on the head. 

Through the window, Modesty could see an overgrown backyard, wildflowers almost pressed against the window, and her eyes lit up. "I love it," she whispered, her small hands clenching together in front of her chest as if she were afraid to touch anything. 

Above her head, Credence seemed to agree, moving in a way that seemed agitated until it was realized that he was dancing around his sister.

"I am glad for that," Newt smiled again, settling his case on the floor, against the counter. It tucked neatly into the wall, a crevice seemingly made for it, and he patted it gently. "I'd have hated to have brought you both somewhere you did not want to be."

Credence darted towards Newt, shifting and spinning around his head before floating back to Modesty and swirling around her outstretched hand. In a pocket Newt had helped her sew into her dress, made from a spare sheet Newt had found on the ship for that purpose, the pieces of her father's wand rested. She put her other hand to them and looked to Newt. "Can we go outside?"

"Oh, certainly," Newt headed for the back door. "That will give me time to set up rooms for you two. If you want tea, there's a kettle on the stove and you can come get me to light it, alright? It's the old kind, there needs to be a fire lit to have any use of it at all."

Modesty nodded, practically bouncing on her toes as she stared out the window. "Yes," she paused, looking down at her feet and halting in her tracks. "...I'm sorry."

"You must never," Newt kneeled down, one hand on the door handle as he met her eyes. "Never apologize for being excited. Modesty," he ducked a little lower, trying to get her to look entirely at him. "There is no need to apologize for wanting to be outside. The air is clean here, you're someplace you've never been, and the world probably seems enormous now," he turned back to look at the door and opened it with a twist of his wrist. "Look at that," he quietly marveled. "Even more beautiful than it was when I was last home. Go on," he urged the siblings. "Don't go too far and if you see a gnome, don't stick your fingers near its teeth. Have fun!"

Watching as Modesty edged out the door, clutching the frame for a moment before stepping into the grass, Newt grinned, crossing his arms over his chest as he sat back on his heels.

The cloud of black smoke stayed behind.

"You know I meant you too, right?" Newt asked Credence quietly. "You aren't...This isn't going to be a place I want you to regret coming to," Newt held out a hand for Credence to cling to for a second. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Modesty standing in the middle of the garden, her face turned towards the sun and her eyes closed. "This is someplace I would hope you feel safe in, Credence."

Safe, came the small voice in the back of his mind that was Credence's words. Here?

"I should hope so," Newt chuckled. "This estate belongs to my family, has for centuries. I do not live in their house anymore but my mother was unhappy about me disappearing into the world once I got expelled from school," his smile was back and Credence shifted a little closer. "Go on, you," he urged the smoke cloud towards Modesty. "I think your sister wants some company out there."

What about you?

"I have some tidying up to do," Newt winced sheepishly. "I'm afraid this house is a little...Ransacked looking."

I've seen what you do, the voice gave the feeling of amused for a moment. You get involved and then you forget.

"I always have," Newt admitted. "But it is well worth it, I would say. My creatures are family and I would not trade them for anything. Speaking of which, I probably should retrieve Pickett from the bowtruckle tree, he's probably been in a strop since I made him stay down there..."

More laughter echoed inside his head and he watched Credence float out the door to his sister's side.

 

xXx

 

Nearly two months had passed when Newt heard a knock on the door.

He set his tea down, put aside his pencil and turned to look at the front door. Out the back door, he could hear Modesty playing in the garden, humming something while weaving flowers together into a crown. The house was warm and happy and he could see Credence when he turned to look at Modesty.

The knock sounded again and he frowned, pushing back his chair and walking to the door. With his right hand, he pulled his wand out and kept it at the ready, his left opening the door. 

On the front step stood Tina and Queenie.

"Newt," Tina smiled. 

"Oh, hello," Newt smiled at them, blinking a couple of times. "...Sorry to sound rude, but why are you two here?"

"We need a little bit of help," Queenie nudged her sister back a little, her lips pursing for a moment. "There's someone we found that needs help, really. Ain't something we really know how to explain," she paused, her hands clenching together in a way that reminded Newt of Modesty for a moment. "But we knew we needed help."

Newt nodded, still confused, as he looked at both of them. "Is something wrong?"

"Well," Tina made a noise, her nose wrinkling as she seemed to try and think of how to explain. After a moment of hesitance, heaving a sigh, she stepped to one side to show Newt the man standing behind her. 

It was like a bucket of ice water had been poured into his stomach.

"He's-"

"He isn't," Queenie held up her hand, looking back at the man that Newt had last seen as Grindelwald before his polyjuice potion had worn off. "Grindelwald is still in MACUSA headquarters."

"Believe me," Tina nodded. "We checked. Multiple times."

"So he's the actual..." Newt frowned. "I would have thought that Grindelwald..."

"We did too," Tina spoke up again. "Apparently, he was kept in a comatose state for nearly two years. Your delay in getting out of New York and the president asking you about your creatures? That was enough time for him to wake up."

Queenie stared at Newt, her eyebrows raised. 

"Well," Newt made a face, shaking his head at her. "...I never did tell you why I was delayed in getting out of New York, did I?"

"No," Queenie was the one answering this time. "I'm sure it'll be fascinating."

Tina looked at the both of them, her eyes narrowing on Newt. "What did you do," she demanded more than she asked. "Newt, if something got out _again_ -"

"Oh, no, nothing like that," Newt hurried to reassure her. "It was only just- I couldn't leave when I knew..."

"Oh Newt," Queenie laughed. "You do find the most ridiculous way to do things, don't you?"

"I'm missing a part of the conversation here," Tina frowned. "And I don't like it. Does either one of you feel like explaining? I don't want to sit here, trying to guess what's happening by how much my sister is laughing."

"He went back," Queenie smiled gently at Newt. "To the Barebone house."

"You went looking for Credence," it dawned on Tina slowly, her eyes wide as she shook her head. "Newt, you and I both saw what happened to him. The most highly trained American Aurors ripped him apart, you don't need to feel guilty for that."

"Please," Newt shook his head. "Just one moment," he raised his voice just a little. "Mister Graves? Perhaps you could stay in the front garden?"

"Sorry," Graves looked sheepish. "Never been to England before."

"It's lovely, isn't it," Newt took a deep breath, hoping that Modesty and Credence hadn't heard him address the man. "There's another secret, actually. I have some people living with me right now, and I am glad to see the both of you and even more so to see that the real Graves is alive, my housemates must be informed of the situation before panic can settle in and make everything in their lives seem...Despairing."

Newt turned to go back inside, leaving the door open. "Please," he said quietly. "Give me just a few minutes."

He walked to the back door, pausing at the frame and waiting. Tina and Queenie didn't seem to be watching him, thankfully, and Newt continued into the back garden carefully. "Modesty?" he called softly, catching the girl's attention. Her eyes were wide, lit up almost from within as she turned to look over her shoulder at him. "Do you remember the Goldsteins?"

"Yes," she frowned, peeking back towards the house. 

"Tina, in particular."

"Yes," she said again, looking up at her brother. The cloud of black smoke was twisting almost ominously as the two spoke. "Is that who's here?"

Newt sat down on the ground near her, already nodding. "Yes," his voice was quiet. "They're both at the front door. They came to see me, and they don't know you're here."

"...Can I go say hello?" she asked, her eyes darting to look again.

"Go on," Newt urged her, a relieved smile on his face. "I should think they would be happy to know you're alright."

He waited until the hem of her dress had disappeared into the house before addressing the smoke cloud above his head. "Credence," he started slowly. "I want you to see them too. From what I remember, Tina Goldstein wanted to help you," he let the young-man-turned-smoke curl around his hand, their usual way of communicating. "They brought someone with them who needs my help, and I only wanted to warn you."

Who?

"You'll remember him when you see him," Newt frowned, biting his bottom lip. "Only, it isn't the same man you knew."

 _Who_.

"Grindelwald was pretending to be Graves," Newt started slowly. Credence's voice in his head confirmed it, an impression of a nod. "The real Percival Graves has arrived here, today. He needs my help. It is your choice whether or not you want to face him, but I want you to know that the man standing on our front step isn't the man who hurt you. That he isn't the man who tried to use you," Newt let Credence curl around both of his hands. "I promised that you would be safe here," he whispered. "I am not about to let that promise be broken."

He.

"Credence?"

The impression Newt got was a deep breath, released all at once and a sigh following it. I want to see him.

"Come with me?" Newt stood slowly, careful not to drag his hands through Credence. The poor boy always hated that and Newt had been so careful not to from the first moment he'd been aware of it. "If you would like, I can open the case so you can go see the mooncalves or something if it gets to be too much for you."

The nod again, followed by the brief sensation of a careful nudge against his shoulder. 

"Alright," Newt nodded as he headed back into the house.

Tina was still standing in the door, her eyes wide as Modesty had her arms gripped around Queenie's shoulders in a tight hug. "Newt!" she reprimanded him slightly, her hands flailing through the air for a moment. "Can you- Please explain this?"

"I was on the ocean liner back home," Newt laughed. "Heard a knock on my door, opened it to find Modesty. She was just...There. I wasn't about to leave her on a ship and you may have already noticed I do not like letting creatures fend for themselves when they're in danger. I am not the type to turn a girl out onto the streets because she happened to find her way into my life."

Queenie laughed. "Oh, he is silly, isn't he?"

"He is!" Modesty laughed as well and Tina startled at the sound, a soft smile on her face as she realized what was happening. "He's good at things, too."

"Oh?" Queenie's eyebrow rose and she smiled at the little girl. "What sorts of things?"

"Queenie," Tina's cheeks flushed for a moment, the small hint of innuendo in her sister's words flying completely over Modesty's head. "Still, Newt. You should have said something in your letters."

"Oh, well," Newt shrugged. "This isn't really something I knew how to put into a letter."

"...Newt, honey, why is there black smoke behind you?" Queenie looked startled, her eyes widening the longer she looked. For a moment she stayed in one spot, stepping back in worried fear the more she watched the smoke move. Modesty moved with her, confusion evident on her face. "Newt,"

"Credence," Modesty started, squirming to be let down. "You're going to be scary again, aren't you?"

The smoke stopped, shuddered, the wound down around Newt's wrist, mimicking the way Modesty often held onto him when they ventured outside the house. Newt smiled and looked at Queenie and Tina. "I think Credence might be how Modesty got onto the ship," he said quietly. "Neither of them will tell me, keeping mum on the whole affair, but," he shook his head slowly. "I had room and they had nowhere else to go."

"So, what, you're going to raise a child?" Tina blinked at Modesty, staring unabashedly as the girl held a hand out to the cloud of smoke. 

"Why do you sound like you don't believe I can?" Newt shot back. 

Tina pressed her hands to her face, shaking her head. "This isn't what we came here for," she muttered. "We came to ask for help and for information on something."

"If I can help you, I certainly will," Newt's response came slowly, a moment of studying Tina quietly.

"We need to know about the Swooping Evil's venom," Queenie stepped in between the two of them. "Y'see, Jacob remembers. And he ain't got much reason to be doing that besides me finding him again. I didn't tell him anythin', he just started guessing one day. And we was hoping," she gestured to the front door, the shape of Graves' back where he sat on the steps. "Well...We was hoping you could help us with his lover."

Newt pulled out a chair for Modesty to sit in, helping her settle into it with her brother swirling around her shoulders. "Remember what I said, Credence," he told him quietly. To Tina and Queenie, he said, "Did you tell him anything at all?"

"My name," Queenie laughed. "Small things, only things like that."

"One second," Newt pulled out chairs for the two women. "Go ahead and sit down," he pulled his wand back out of his pocket, lighting the stove and getting the kettle going. "Mister Graves?" he greeted the man on the steps once more. "If you would like, you may come inside."

He met the dark brown eyes and waited for the man to make sense of what he had just said. "I like it here," Graves said after a moment. "Not much one for small spaces, these days. Besides," he flexed his hands in the air like he could catch the breeze in his fingers. "I'm a little glad to be able to see the world like this. Didn't think I'd ever see it again, two years ago. Nice to be outside."

Newt was nodding before the man finished his sentence, a small smile on his face. "I can certainly understand that," he said quietly. 

"It's...Probably really rude of us to just show up like this," Graves sighed, pinning his gaze to a spot in the grass. 

"Well, a little," Newt laughed. "But you needed help with something, and I am going to guess that the longer everything is unknown, the worse off you are. So," he curled his legs under himself. "Tell me about them."

"Daniel Razner," Graves swallowed nervously, watching Newt's face intently. "He's a reporter for the newspaper back where we live. Brilliant, gorgeous, sharp as a tack. Loves his job, finds any story he thinks will make it big and he's almost always right. He's great at his job, amazing writer," he paused, withdrawing into himself. "Would have been one of the first, if not _the first_ on the scene when half of New York started falling apart."

With a wince, Newt nodded again. "Which means he would have been obliviated by the rain," he said, his voice the sort of gentle it usually only got to be when he was talking to his creatures. Or to Credence on a bad day.

"So I've been told," Graves looked up. "He always wanted to come to England, so this feels a bit like a betrayal in some way."

Newt took a slow breath in through his nose. "I am fairly certain that the President said muggles and wizards weren't supposed to be together."

"Yeah, well," Graves snorted, rolling his eyes. "The president of the United States doesn't allow men to be together either, so no matter which way we're looking at it, I'm in trouble. I figure it's better to be happy than to be alone."

"Do you remember a boy named Credence?" 

Graves sat up a little straighter. "I went back to his house, one of the first things I did when I woke up. There was blood on the floor and all the neighbors told me that Missus Barebone took her brood and left in the middle of the night. It felt like something had gone wrong and I _know_ that she hurt her oldest son. The woman could hardly wait to get him inside to beat him for arriving late."

"I remember you," Modesty stepped into view, her hands twisting together. "You walked Credence home one night."

"Oh," Graves' face lit up for a moment. "You're alright!"

"Yes," Modesty grinned and nodded, her hair waving from the movement. "And my brother is here too. Credence," she looked over her shoulder, holding a hand out to him. "He's not lying this time," she encouraged the smoke to move closer. "It's really him. The real Mister Graves, the one who brought you back that one night."

Graves turned to look at the smoke. "...I thought your mother had killed you," he whispered. "I was so scared that I had followed MACUSAs rules and ended up letting you die."

"Grindelwald had more of a hand in this change than you did," Newt offered the information freely, watching the panic on Graves' face slip away. "The man did so much damage, but New York is fixed, Grindelwald is in captivity last I heard, Credence and Modesty are here with me. Modesty is going to school in about a year and a half," he grinned when Graves' eyebrows shot up, the man blinking rapidly. "She is not old enough for it just yet, there's still a birthday or two in between her and Hogwarts."

"Hog-" Graves made a face. "Hogwarts is for magical children."

"Yes," Newt heard Tina and Queenie's conversation come to a halt behind them as they listened in. "Modesty, do you mind going and getting some of the flowers from the garden and showing them what it is you can do?"

The girl spun on her heel, heading for the back door and coming back in a few minutes later.

Her small hands were filled with flowers, plucked from the garden. Modesty studied the floor for a moment, then kneeled down and arranged them in front of her, pausing to look over at Newt, asking for permission silently.

"Go ahead," he urged her.

Modesty took a deep breath and cupped the broken ends of the stems in her hands, her eyes closing. The air in the room crackled, static making everyone's hair stand on end. 

When the feeling went away, Modesty opened her eyes and her hands, revealing a fully formed, interconnected root system. All the flowers, the four different types she had chosen to use, were growing together as if they always had. "There," she nodded happily. 

"She re-roots things," Queenie said in the silence. "What a wonderful talent!"

Modesty preened for a moment, her cheeks pinking at the praise. 

"I suspect that Missus Barebone went around and adopted the children who showed an inclination towards magic," Newt explained, leaning forward when Modesty stood and brought the ring of living flowers over to him. She laughed a little more and settled it into his hair as a crown of sorts. "Because both Credence and Modesty have magic. My theory on it is that she thought she could raise them to be something of an example to those who believed her words."

Credence floated towards Newt, hovering around his head, tendrils of smoke reaching out to nearly touch the flowers.

"I am so very thankful," Newt continued, smiling. "That she did not succeed with either of them."

**Author's Note:**

> I have a confession to make. 
> 
> I do not ship Tina and Newt.
> 
> I just don't. Their actors don't seem to have romantic chemistry between them, they seem to come off more like siblings to me. The writing obviously wants them to be romantic but the actors didn't seem right for it. I know it's canon, and I know it's in the series, but I just don't ship it. Tina was written as the perfect archetype of Trying Too Hard to Impress Someone. She was literally demoted from her job as an Auror because of the same shit she was pulling at the beginning of the movie. We know she wasn't hanging around to watch over Credence because at that point she thought he wasn't her problem. He's non-magical in her eyes at that point, and as such he does not need protection from the Second Salemers. His mother beats him, she says with a small frown and never does anything about it. She tried to arrest a guy when it literally wasn't her job anymore. It's played as funny, a silly joke, but it felt like a painful attempt to show off and say, "Look, I'm still awesome at my job, you should totally hire me back." 
> 
> In the real world, people like that get escorted off the premises by security guards and there's often a restraining order filed.
> 
> Everything about the way she was written just rubs me the wrong way. The movie tried so hard, immediately making the romance obvious for the future, and I just don't buy it. Hollywood needs to slow its roll with romance, not every man and woman falls in love the first time they antagonize each other.   
> When Queenie mentions Newt needing a Giver, not a Taker, I can't see Tina as being anything other than a Taker. If they had paced it out, given it a slow burn instead of an Obvious Romance tone, then I would have bought it. Their personalities are always at war, the movie literally ends with Tina still thinking of Newt as a nuisance and a problem, even as she jokes about it.
> 
> I do ship Newt and Credence, but that has little to do with me not shipping Newt and Tina. It's more to do with the fact that Ezra Miller plays a convincingly repressed young man who latches on to the first guy he sees, a couple of different times. This series may, eventually, develop into a Newt/Credence ship. It may be the slowest burn to ever burn. 
> 
> It may also end up with Credence having an unrequited crush on the guy he turned to for help, the one who took him and his sister in and gave them everything he could.
> 
> (This is the second time I have had to type this out, forgive me if I sound frustrated. Server errors are annoying.)
> 
> Anyway. Tell me what you liked, what you hated, you know the drill. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
